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SOMETHING ABOUT LEATHER 



Something about Leather 

Being a Collection of entertaining Facts not 

commonly known concerning \'arious 

Skins also what is made of them 

with a very brief Sketch of 

the History o;f tanning 

By Lee^llyne 



■•£-■1! 



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New York: Printed for the Gorham 
Company Silversmiths and their 
Friends under the direction of 
H Ingalls Kimball in the Autumn 
M DCCC XC VII 



fS 



Copyrighted by the 
Gorham Manufacturing Company 

M DCCC XC VII 




AS TO THE TANNING OF 
LEATHER 



AS TO THE TANNING OF 
LEATHER 

Somehow people associate certain ideas 
of mental capacity with certain trades, not 
because there is any adequate reason for it, 
to be sure, but from long usage. Whv it 
should be considered eminently respectable 
to be a brewer, but quite out of the ques- 
tion to be an hotel keeper, is rather beyond 
the understanding of the ordinary intelli- 
gence, or even, ,so for as I have been able 
to find out, of the extraordinary intelli- 
gence. Among the trades which have had 
the misfortune to fall especially under the 
ban of society at all times, are those of the 
soap maker and the tanner. Now, in my 
mind, the making of soap is one of the 
noblest of all occupations. How much more 
keen must be the artistic sensibilities of a man 
devoting his life to the making of some- 
thing which purifies and cleanses, and 

9 



Something About Leather 

which gives to his fellow-men that which 
is next to godliness than of him who caters 
to a thirst for beer. Indeed, when one 
thinks of it, godliness would amount to 
very little indeed without soap, but one 
could get along pretty well, so far as relig- 
ion is concerned, without beer. 

Perhaps it is because my ideas on these 
subjects were not altogether settled, and be- 
cause I was prepared for something a bit 
better than the clumsy and inartistic, when 
I went first to a tannery, that I was not al- 
together surprised to find a keen, artistic, 
and altogether appreciative man at the 
head of it. He seemed so intensely inter- 
ested in his work, indeed, so interested in 
every process, that the business took on 
quite a diiFerent aspect from what I had 
expected. 1 found him with his sleeves 
rolled up and his apron on, figuring out in 
chemical symbols the exact effect that cer- 
tain elements would have on certain skins. 
Perhaps it was because he was a French- 

lo 



Something About Leather 

man more than because he was a tanner 
that he was so exceedingly courteous and 
polite. He smiled when I told him that I 
knew something of the theory of tanning, 
but wanted to see it in practice, and re- 
marked that the theory was entertaining 
enough, but the practice was really absorb- 
ing. I asked him if he meant that for a 
pun, whereupon he informed me that a 
Frenchman rarely allowed himself to make, 
or even recognize, puns. This was encour- 
aging, not to say gratifying. 

He readily laid aside his work when I 
made my errand known, and we went to- 
gether down a narrow flight of stairs and 
out through the yard into a little house. 
On the floor there were piles and piles of 
skins. Most of them seemed to be alli- 
gator skins. I picked one up, and at the 
very first glance learned something that I had 
never known before, and that was the fact 
that, for commercial purposes, only the skin 
from the belly and sides of the alligator are 

II 



Something About Leather 

used. I had seen the tanned skins on ex- 
hibition in shops and had always imagined 
from their shape that they were absolutely 
complete. I had taken it for granted that 
the middle of the skin, as I saw it, was that 
which had covered the middle of the back, 
and that the long piece covering the snout 
was from the back of the head. 

The skin I held in my hand was soft and 
a bit spongy, and felt wet from the salt in 
which it had been packed immediately 
after it was taken from the animal. 
The sides were a grayish-black in color, 
but the middle of it was a dirty white. 
This was, of course, from the belly. The 
Frenchman laughed when I told him what 
I had found out, and said almost everyone 
had the same idea. He told me that, 
however, in the case of lizards, where the 
skin was thinner and softer, the hide from 
the back was used as I had supposed the 
alligator's was. He showed me a lizard 
skin, a big one from Java, almost four 

12 



Something About Leather 

feet long, which looked exactly like an 
alligator skin, except that it had been dried 
before salting, which had made it stiff and 
harsh. Other than in color these skins 
had exactly the same appearance as thev 
have after they are tanned. 

We went out of the little house again, 
through the bright sunlight, and down 
into a deep cellar, where my guide warned 
me to be careful of mv steps or I might 
fall into one of the vats. Great deep tubs 
they were, sunk into the ground, and we 
walked above them on a narrow plank. 
These large, sunken tanks, he explained to 
me, was where the skins were washed. 
They were thrown into cold, pure water, 
and kept there for sometimes a week, some- 
times two weeks, according to their size. 
During this period the water was often 
changed so that the skins should be per- 
fectly cleansed of salt. We passed under 
a low arch, I groping my way, for it was 
uncomfortably dark, and through another 

13 



Something About Leather 

room like the first, only here the tubs were 
filled with a whitish liquid, much thicker than 
water, which he told me was a solution 
of slack slime. This preparation thoroughly 
cleanses the skins, and after they are taken 
from it they are thrown over a round, 
slanting wooden post that is just high 
enough for a man to lean over, and in that 
posture the workmen carefully scrape the 
skins with a dull knife on the flesh side. 
This thorough scraping takes ofi^anv pieces 
of flesh that may have adhered to the skin, 
and rubs out a certain amount of the lime 
water. T handled one of the skins at this 
stage of the process and found it was 
clammy and thick and soft. 

As we turned to go into the next room 
my foot slipped on something, and after 
I got over my fright, for thick lime and 
water, among a lot of well-soaked alligator 
skins, would not prove an altogether en- 
joyable bath, I picked up the thing that I 
had slipped on. It was a transparent shell, 

H 




^•-i «--'-."'•■' 



figured exactly like the skin of an alligator, 
and about as thick as isinglass. I could 
see where it had fitted the scales, and 
there was a ragged hole at one end of it 
where some stray bullet had plowed 
along the side and torn this outer shell of 
the reptile who had once worn it. Then 

15 



Something About Leather 

I was told that the lime loosens and 
softens these shells, and that they come off 
either in the vats or in the next room 
where the skins, after being scraped on the 
flesh side, are thrown into a large revolv- 
ing wheel half submerged in a trough of 
clear running water. I pulled one of the 
skins out of this trough, and J do not think 
I ever saw anything more beautiful than 
it was as it lay in my hand glistening under 
a ray of sunlight that filtered down 
somewhere through the beams and struck 
the pure, cream-white belly. The sides 
were a lighter gray than they had looked 
at first, and the markings around the legs, 
where the scales are small, were beautifully 
distinct. I had never seen white alligator 
skin before, and I asked the genial tanner 
why he did not let it stay that color ; it 
would certainly be very fine. He told me 
that the tanning liquor turned the skin 
yellow, and that while it could be tanned 
with a solution of alum to preserve its 

i6 



Something About Leather 

whiteness, it would have no strength 
and no commercial value. Between our- 
selves I think I would almost rather have 
it weak if it could be kept that beautiful 
color. Maybe, some day, I will be a 
tanner myself and then we shall see. 

While we were in this little room I 
heard louder than ever, the heavy thumping 
of a great machine somewhere in the build- 
ing; a sound 1 had heard some distance 
away when I had first approached the tan- 
nery, and which acted as a sort of back- 
ground to the swashing of the leather in 
the vats, the paddling of the great wheels 
in their troughs, and the occasional word 
which passed between the men scraping 
away at the posts. Then we went on 
again and came to the great tanks filled with 
a solution of gambler, and with skins. He 
would not let me stop to look into them 
until we had seen the splitting process, 
which comes first in order. There were 
more large, round posts in the place where 

17 



Something About Leather 

the splitting is done, and more men work- 
ing with knives, but this time the knives 
were sharp and keen and curved, and great 
flakes and strips of white leather curled up 
and rolled away on the damp floor around 
the feet of the men as they pared down 
the skins to proper thickness for working. 
The constant soakings in many waters for 
almost three weeks had so thickened the 
skins that even after almost a quarter of 
an inch of pulpy leather has been pared 
away they were still as thick as they were 
when I saw them green and salted in the 
little house outside. 

After the skins were pared to the proper 
thickness, and that was no easy task, be- 
cause of the danger of cutting clean through 
them, they were thrown into the first tan- 
ning vat, where the thin and dirty red sol- 
ution of gambler was comparatively weak. 
There the acid sunk into the fibers, com- 
bining with every particle of gelatine be- 
tween the minute threads which go to 
i8 



Something About Leather 

make up the skin, and, binding these threads 
and the gelatine together in a homogeneous 
body, did its part towards strengthening, 
and incidentally coloring the skins, which 
were now rapidly becoming leather. J 
saw tour of these vats, and in each the 
solution of gambler was stronger than in 
the last, and thicker and redder, and in 
each vat the skins remained for two to 
four days before being thrown into the last 
solution of all, which is a weak bath of 
sumach and water. This bath of sumach 
and water acts as a mordant to hold the 
dye in which the skins are finally soaked. 
It bleaches them a bit, and then they are 
stained by immersing them in different 
pigments to the deep rich yellow, the solid 
black, or the brilliant changeable green 
which we see in the finished leather. 

Up another little flight of stairs we went, 
this time inside the building, and I caught 
a glimpse of those pounding machines on 
the way, and then into a broad, high loft, 

19 



Something About Leather 

flooded with sunlight, where the skins were 
hung to dry. The colors were flat and 
dull ; the skins were flexible and lighter 
in weight than at first, and they no longer 
seemed like living reptiles as they did in 
the various vats. And then we went down 
stairs to see the source of all the noise. 
I think the little Frenchman who showed 
me about took a certain delight in keeping 
me away from the things I wanted to see 
at first, for his eyes twinkled as we neared 
the machine. The thing was so simple 
that it was really a disappointment; only a 
great human-like arm holding a hammer, 
which it brought down rapidly and with 
tremendous force upon the flat beam below. 
A man stood behind the thing and leaned 
over the beam with a tremendous skin 
stretched across it. With his foot he 
moved a lever, which started the arm and 
the hammer at its noisy work. As the 
hammer came down it slid rapidly forward 
across the dull surface, and in its track 

20 











»\N^ 



there appeared a darker, brilliantly shining 
strip of polished alligator skin. I watched 
this machine work for a long time ; so long 
that my guide became weary and left me 
there, for it was impossible to talk on ac- 
count of the noise; and then after a while 

21 



Something About Leather 

I went up into his little office, where he 
smiled genially and rolled a cigarette for 
me and laid aside his figuring again to tell 
me something of how alligator skins began 
to be used and became a great commercial 
factor in the Southern States. I shall 
tell what he said as nearly as possible 
in his own words ; but I shall make no at- 
tempt to reproduce his accent. 



22 



AS TO ALLIGATORS 



AS TO ALLIGATORS 

** You would have me tell you," he 
began, lighting a cigarette and leaning 
forward in his chair, ** about the begin- 
ning of alligator leather. Well, first, you 
must know that to me its commercial use 
is due. I first made it, having discovered 
or invented the method of treating it, in 
1879.- 

**But," I interjected, mildly, ** Davis, 
in his * Manufacture of Leather,' speaking 
of alligator hides, states that they were 
tanned as far back as 1855." 

*' O," said the Frenchman, airily, 
** he was speaking merely of experiments. 
I am talking of practical work." 

I was silenced, and he went on : ** You 
must bear in mind that although nearly 
everybody thinks there is no difference 
between the alligator and crocodile, 
nearly everybody is wrong. Not that the 

25 



Something About Leather 

difference," he added, after pausing to 
light his cigarette which he had suffered to 
go out, ** is one that would attract the 
attention of the lay mind." He leaned 
back and looked out of the window. I 
waited expectantly. Presently he re- 
sumed : **The difference consists chiefly 
in the arrangement of the teeth and 
the formation of the bones of the head. 
The hides are practically identical." 

** You will find alligators widely dis- 
tributed," he said, after another pause. 
**A11 the large tropical rivers, such as the 
Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, and the Mis- 
sissippi, — in fact almost all tropical streams, 
— abound with them. These reptiles have 
been worshiped and cursed alternately 
from the earliest period of history. Herod- 
otus speaks of the custom of worshiping 
the crocodile in Egypt ; but in some parts 
of the country it was not so popular. 
Everybody abhorred the creature and lost 
no opportunity of destroying old and 

26 



Something About Leather 

young. The people in those days were 
very expert in killing them too, and the 
Mexicans of the present day follow their 
method almost exactly." 

** Which is — ? " I asked. 

**To dive under them and stab them in 
the belly with a short knife. It is very 
effective. According to Pliny and Strabo 
the Tantyrites exhibited live crocodiles at 
Rome, and about Thebes and Lake 
Moeris, in Egypt, the reptiles were often 
fed and tamed. But that is nothing re- 
markable; it has been done elsewhere. In 
Louisiana, for example, this custom has 
been followed for the last seventy- five 
years. But those that formed the pets of the 
aristocracy of Thebes were almost always 
beautifully decorated. Their scales were 
heavily gilded, the gold leaf being fastened 
on in a very ingenious way. Fabulous 
sums were often spent upon the adornment 
of a single crocodile. 

**In that country when one of these 

27 



Something About Leather 

pets died he was often embalmed and kept 
as holy, and little images of them were 
made for the children to worship. That 
was the age of simplicity of thought ; but 
you have had enough of ancient history. 
To come down to something nearer at 
hand : Alligator skins are brought into 
the market usually green salted. The 
salting is often done very carelessly, and 
if the skins are permitted to remain too 
long in the barrels in which they are 
packed they become heated and the grain 
sides are thereby so badly injured that the 
skins are fit only for second-class leather. 

** All the skins show^ great uniformity, 
being a bluish black on the sides, and a 
bluish white on the belly. Each skin is 
checkered in oblong divisions, which, 
being wrinkled and separated by intersect- 
ing grooves, give the peculiar appearance 
that is characteristic of all alligator leather. 
The skins come in all sizes, but those about 
seven feet long are most desirable. 

28 









" In this country, gambler, 
from India, is chiefly used as the 
tannic agent. The skins are 
first thoroughly washed, as you 
have seen, and then put through 
the various processes that I have 
just shown to you." 

** How many alligator skins 
are used in this country each 
year ? " I asked. 

*' I was coming to that," 
he replied. ** I should say 
that at the present time three 

29 



Something About Leather 

hundred thousand skins would be a con- 
servative estimate for the number that 
find their way to market every year in the 
United States alone; I cannot say as to 
Europe." 

** How long before the supply will give 
out, if we keep on killing the creatures off 
at such a rate ? '* I inquired. 

'♦ It will be many, many years. They 
multiply with astonishing rapidity. The 
young are produced in litters of about sixty 
to one hundred at a time. First, Mamma 
Alligator piles up with her snout a very 
practical, if not beautiful, nest of mud and 
sticks. It is generally from eight to ten 
feet long and from six to eight feet high. 
Here she lays her eggs, which are then 
hatched out by the sun. The period of 
incubation varies greatly, but it is generally 
very brief. Indeed, sometimes the little 
ones are out of the shell, which is very 
soft, like a snake's egg, almost imme- 
diately. When she has her young with 

30 



Something About Leather 

her the mother is very savage, and will at- 
tack white men unprovoked. Here is a 
curious thing: except at this time no alli- 
gator will attack a white man unless driven 
to it, but they are always ready to go for 
a negro, and they are especially fond of 
darkey babies." 

"How about the birds that make 
friends with them and " 

"I am coming to that presently," in- 
terposed the Frenchman. ** The alligator 
is very fond of dogs, pigs, and insects as 
articles of diet. One of his favorite habits 
is to lie in the sun on a mud bank, with 
his huge mouth stretched open to its fullest 
extent. Here he will remain motionless 
for nearly an hour at a time. During this 
period the tongue and all the inside of the 
mouth become absolutely black with the 
innumerable flies and bugs which are at- 
tracted to it. Suddenly Mr. Alligator 
closes his trap, and after washing down his 
luncheon with a huge gulp of muddy water 

31 



Something About Leather 

the trap is set again. This is where xour 
bird comes in." 

** In the trap ? " I ventured. 

** Exactly. No doubt birds are occa- 
sionally attracted to the mouth of the crea- 
ture by the millions of flies and other in- 
sects; but as to the story which the school 
books tell us of the friendships between the 
birds and the alligators, I don't know. At 
all events the birds never come back to tell 
us about it, and it is to be supposed that the 
alligator's feelings are entirely friendly. 

** The greatest enemy that the baby alli- 
gator has is its papa, who always is pos- 
sessed of a most shocking desire to make a 
meal of his own children. This inclina- 
tion is naturally resented by the mother, 
and frequently leads to bitter fights, in 
which, very properly, victory is generally 
with the lady." 

** Do we make better leather in America 
than is made abroad ? " I asked. 

** In some grades, yes; in others, no. 

32 



Something About Leather 

But after all, the French and the Swiss are 
the greatest tanners in the world," and he 
turned again to his figuring, as if he felt 
that he had talked long enough. I took the 
hint. 

** How do you make that out?" I 
asked, rising. 

He looked at me with an odd little 
smile. ** Why, where else in the world 
but in France and Switzerland can one buy 
ladies' fine kid gloves made from the skin 
of the human body ? " 

** Do you mean to say — " I began, but 
he stopped me with a deprecating wave of 
his hand. ** No," he said, ** I will not 
talk about it. If you are interested you 
can find out," and with that the interview 
ended. 



33 



AS TO A CURIOSITY IN 
LEATHER 



AS TO A CURIOSITY IN 
LEATHER 

The Frenchman's last remark excited 
my curiosity to such an extent that I de- 
termined to look up the question of leather 
made from human skin, and find out if 
possible whether or not any such barbarity 
existed. But I met with a stupendous 
difficulty at the outset; there was no litera- 
ture — or practically none — on the subject. 
After I had spent a considerable time in 
my researches, however, I found quite by 
accident something a great deal better from 
my standpoint than literature, for I stumbled 
across an Antiquarian. 

After we had been properly made ac- 
quainted with each other I put the question 
to him plumply: ** What do you know 
about human leather r " 

** Everything," he replied, solemnly, 
settling himself as if for a long talk; ** what 
do you wish to know ? ' ' 

37 



Something About Leather 

•* Everything," I echoed, rather faintly, 
for 1 gathered from his manner that per- 
haps he knew things I would not like to 
hear. 

"After all, there isn't very much to 
tell," he said, reassuringly, and I felt bet- 
ter. ** Herodotus " but I interrupted 

him. 

** One moment," said I. "Would 
you mind leaving Herodotus out of the 
question, please ? Everything about leather 
seems to date back to Herodotus. What 
did he know about human leather, any- 
how ? ' ' 

** I was about to say," resumed the An- 
tiquarian, gravely, with a noble disre- 
gard of my interruption, " that Herod- 
otus nowhere mentions the practice of 
tanning the human skin. Indeed, as 
you probably know, from the very 
earliest times, the idea of putting any 
portion of the human body to prac- 
tical use after life has departed has always 

38 




been a revolting one. 
Notwithstanding this 
natural sentiment, how- 
ever, it is a fact that 
leather made from human skin has been 
in use, although to a very small extent, for 
many years. The first specimens appeared 
in England. On a number of old church 
doors in that country, underneath the or- 
namental iron work, have been found por- 
tions of human leather which are said to 

39 



Something About Leather 

have been originally the skins of Danes." 
I suppose I looked skeptical, for he 
went to his bookcase, took down a volume, 
and, after turning its pages a moment, said: 
** Pepys, writing under the date of April 
lo, 1661 , makes this statement: . 
* to Rochester and there saw the cathedral 
— observing the great doors of the church, 
as they say covered with the skins of the 
Danes.' " Replacing his book with the 
air of one who has definitely disposed of 
an objection, the Antiquarian took from 
a drawer in his desk a few pages of manu- 
script, and resumed his seat. 

*'l have here," he said, **a few notes 
on the subject. Let me see ; yes, this is 
what 1 wanted," and he read: ** * The old 
Bohemian leader, Ziska, who died in 
1424, left a will in which he directed 
that after his death his body should be 
flayed and the skin converted into the 
head of a drum.' 

** On the 3d of December, 181 7, there 

40 



Something About Leather 

was hanged at Nevvcastle-on-Tyne, a 
murderer named Charles Smith, who had 
been guiltv^ of many atrocious crimes. 
After his death his skin was removed and 
tanned, and a piece of it was sold so 
recently as May, 1855. It would appear 
the skins of murderers were frequently 
tanned in England about two hundred 
vears ago. In a temporary museum got- 
ten up for charitable purposes at Preston, 
in that country, a gentleman named 
Howitt exhibited the tanned skin of a 
man's arm. It was the color of a new 
saddle, and bore a close resemblance to 
'basil,' or split sheepskin, so much used 
in leather work. The library at Bury St. 
Edmunds has had on exhibition for many 
years a book bound in the tanned skin of 
a murderer named Corder. I have seen 
and handled the book. But human leather 
has been used frequently for bookbinding, 
and there is a publisher in New York to-day 
who has for sale a copy of Holbein's 

41 



Something About Leather 

* Dance of Death,' bound in human 
skin. 

** I have seen a pair of shoes made from 
human skin, and, ghastly as it may seem, 
I am bound to confess that tbey possessed 
many excellent qualities. 

**If we could become accustomed to its 
use, human skin would be likely to form an 
important article of commerce, because it 
unquestionably makes a better wearing 
leather than many of those now commonly 
employed. In texture it is very soft and 
pliable, and in some respects resembles 
kid and dog-skin, though neither so porous 
as the dog-skin nor so close as the kid." 

** Is it true," I asked, " that they make 
gloves from it ? " 

** It is," replied the Antiquarian, **and 
it makes excellent gloves, too. It is as- 
serted upon what seems to be good author- 
ity that its use in the manufacture of ladies' 
gloves is at present extensively carried on 
in France and Switzerland." 

42 



Something About Leather 

** So I was told bv a French tanner," I 
remarked, ** but I could scarcely believe 

it." 

** Of course," continued my friend, 
** such gloves are sold always as kid or 
dog-skin." 

The Antiquarian read these last words 
from his manuscript, then folded it up and 
looked at me inquiringly. 

** That is extremely interesting," said 
I. ** I have learned so much about leather 
lately that I am curious to know more. 
Can you tell me anything about the early 
history of tanning; when leather was first 
used, and so on ? " 

** No," he answered; ** but my friend, 
Mr. Schwarzwaelder, of East Houston 
street, knows more about the history of 
leather than any one in America. I have 
long urged him to undertake a work upon 
the subject, a task for which he is emi- 
nently qualified. I will give you a line to 
him." 

43 



Something About Leather 

A few moments later, as I was descend- 
ing the stairs, the Antiquarian called out to 
me. I stopped. **Yes?" I said, think- 
ing I had left something behind. 

**I forgot to tell you," he shouted 
down at me, **that the skin from the 
human back makes a fine grade of sole 
leather! " 



44 



AS TO THE HISTORY OF 
LEATHER 



AS TO THE HISTORY OF 
LEATHER 

I found Mr. Schwarzwaelder the sole 
occupant of a very small and dusky shoe- 
maker's shop, far over on the east side of 
the city. He greeted me pleasantly, and 
when he had read the Antiquarian's letter 
he became very cordial. 

*'I suppose that after what my friend 
has told you of me you are rather surprised 
to see me here working at the bench ? " he 
inquired. 

**I don't know," I answered vaguelv^. 
** He did not tell me anything about your 
business." 

** Well, I am a shoemaker, and I am 
proud of it," said Mr. Schwarzwaelder, 
resuming his seat and thereby giving me 
an opportunity to get what light there was 
in the shop directly on his face. He was 
very small and very old, but his little eyes 

47 



Something About Leather 

behind his gold-framed spectacles were as 
sharp as birds'. **The proper making of 
shoes has become almost one of the lost 
arts," the old man went on. '*It is the 
finest craft in the world — you understand 
I am not a cobbler. I wouldn't mend a 
shoe, for instance." 

** The Antiquarian says that you will 
tell me all about the history of leather," I 
ventured, not caring particularly to hear 
about the trade of making shoes. 

**Oh,yes," said he cheerfully. ** Where 
shall we begin ? At the very beginning ? 
To do that we should have to go back to the 
ages hefore history began, because leather 
in certain forms was undoubtedly used by 
prehistoric man. Thongs cut from bulls' 
hide answered for his bow-strings, and the 
skins and hides of animals supplied him 
with shelter and apparel at almost as early 
a period as the flesh provided him with 
food. It is likely that the first use of 
leather in this way was in cold and moun- 

48 



Something About Leather 

tainous countries, where animal food was 
desirable and warm clothing necessary. 
You know it is said that necessity has 
always been the mother of invention, and 
if that is true it is reasonable to believe that 
mankind acquired at a very early period suffi- 
cient knowledge to enable them to slaughter 
wild animals for food and to use the hides 
for clothing and shelter. As soon as men 
began to live in homes, the raising of cattle, 
which, with agriculture, is the oldest busi- 
ness in the world, became their chief em- 
ployment. 

** It was nearly two thousand years be- 
fore the Christian era, as you may read in 
Genesis, that Abraham and Lot went up 
out of Egypt into the south, both rich in 
cattle, in silver, and in gold. After they 
reached Bethel, as you may remember, 
they separated because of the constant 
quarrels between their respective herds- 
men and because this land was not large 
enough to contain their vast herds. Lot 

49 



Something About Leather 

journeyed eastward, chose the rich and 
watered plains of Jordan, and pitched his 
tents near Sodom. No doubt the presence 
of the great number of cowboys in the 
employ of Lot added much to the wicked- 
ness of that historic place," and the old 
shoemaker peered at me over the tops of 
his spectacles. 

** When did they first learn to remove 
the hair from the skins ? " I asked. 

** No one knows; and no one knows 
when the art of manufacturing the hair 
and wool into fabrics was invented, but it 
is known that it was practiced in the val- 
leys of the Tigris and Euphrates before the 
date to which anv of our histories extend, 
and it is supposed also that the earliest 
fabrics were felted and not woven. Five 
years after Abraham parted from Lot, in 
191 3, B. C, he refused to take anything 
from the King of Sodom, * from a thread 
even to a shoe latchet.' This is a pretty 
good indication that the loom and distaff 

50 









'^^^W^ 



fe 



were in use at that time; but it was p| 
probably several centuries before these \\ 
inventions of the plains reached the v^^j^ 
scattered tribes of the higher and colder 
countries. 

** During all this time the skins of 
animals continued to form the clothing 
of the people. Herodotus says " 

I groaned aloud. 

** What is it?" inquired the shoe- 
maker, anxiously. ^^ 

** O, nothing," I answered, hastily. 
**Just a twinge; it's gone now." 

51 



A 






Something About Leather 

"Ah, yes, I understand," he said, 
thoughtfully rubbing his nose, and then 
speaking as if to himself: '* So long as the 
people will fool themselves by cramping 
their feet into ill-fitting ready-made shoes, 
what can we expect r" Then he sud- 
denly resumed his disquisition: ** Herod- 
otus says that the tribes of the Caspian 
Sea dressed themselves in sealskin, and 
Strabo speaks of the Massagetae wearmg 
fur clothing. In both Cssar and Lactan- 
tius frequent mention is made of the rein- 
deer clothing of the German tribes, and it 
was the custom of the classical authors to 
use the term * skin dressed,' as descrip- 
tive of the savage. 

** We have no means of finding out any- 
thing about the preparation with which the 
skins were treated in order to secure their 
preservation ; but they must have been put 
through some process to prevent putrefac- 
tion. 

** Among the North American Indians, 
52 



Something About Leather 

Greenlanders, and Icelanders, depila- 
tion -" 

''What is that?" I interrupted. 
''DepiJation? The removing of the 
hair. I was about to say that among 
those people depiktion by maceration in 
water is commonly practiced, and this was 
probably suggested to them originally by 
the natural process of the falling out of the 
hair of drowned animals." 

'' I have somewhere read that leather 
carpets are in use in the East," said I. 

'' Yes, leather carpets for tents are used 
to-day among the Arabs, and their use has 
been common in Eastern countries since 
the time of Moses. Colored leather was 
well known in the days when Biblical 
history was written, for Ezekiel speaks of 
fine red leather, which was probably 
similar to our modern red morocco. 
Ezekiel speaks also of the brilliant dresses and 
harness of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, 
and all the Assyrians, and conveys an 

53 



Something About Leather 

excellent idea of the brilliant colors in use 
at the time he was prophesying the ruin 
of the two great kingdoms. Leather was 
also in use in the remotest ages by the 
Israelites as a material to write upon. 
Herodotus states " 

** I beg your pardon ! " said I. 

** — that the ancient lonians wrote their 
annals upon sheepskin," continued the old 
man without noticing my interruption, 
** and Diodorus, of Sicily, mentions the 
same fact concerning the ancient Per- 
sians." 

** What else did Herodotus state ? " I 
inquired, with the faintest suggestion of 
sarcasm. 

"Well, for example," answered the 
shoemaker, genially, ** he stated that the 
ancient Libyans dressed themselves in 
leather, and that the Ichthyophagists on 
the banks of the Araxes wore clothing 
made of sealskin, and that the wild inhab- 
itants of Geodrosia in the time of Alexan- 

54 



Something About Leather 

der covered their dwellings with leather 
and clothed themselves with the hides of 

animals. Also " 

'*Just a moment," said I, hastily. 
" Did Homer have anything to say about 
leather ? " 

*' Yes, he wrote in praise of the splen- 
did half boots of Agamemnon. Hesiod 
recommended the use of leather shoes, 
lined with fur. For centuries the Greeks, 
and especially the Phoenicians, used leather 
in the construction of their ships, as did 
also the ancient Germans and the original 
Britons." 

The old man paused and fell to rubbing 
his nose again. 

*' Now, I should like to know some- 
thing about tanning," I said, feeling that 
I had had enough of ancient history. 

'* A queer thing about that," said the 
shoemaker, *Ms that the processes of tan- 
ning in use to-day are very nearly the same 
as those employed centuries ago. Alum 

55 



Something About Leather 

tanning, oil tanning, and bark tanning 
were all familiar methods long before his- 
tory began. Sir Edwin Arnold found in 
a sarcophagus in India a pair of slippers 
which had evidently been tanned with 
alum, or some such astringent. The other 
articles that had been placed in the tomb 
with them had long since crumbled into 
dust, but the slippers were in a state of 
perfect preservation. Specimens of alum- 
tanned leather more than three thousand 
years old have been found in China in 
good preservation. Leather thongs which 
were originally shoe laces have been found 
in-the abodes of the old cliff dwellers of 
Arizona. In Genesis xxi, 14, we read 
that * Abraham gave unto Hagar a bottle 
of water.' The bottle there referred to 
was probably bark tanned, as only bark- 
tanned leather will hold water." 

** Sealskin is a comparatively new 
leather, is it not ? " I inquired. 

** In a way, yes. The ancients used 

56 



Something About Leather 

it, and in England it was sometimes used 
for shoes; but it was not employed in the 
manufacture of small articles until 1873 or 
1874. Since that time it has been very 
popular. 

** I think I have given you a fairly good 
idea of the early history of leather," con- 
tinued Mr. Schwarzwaelder, *^ but there are 
one or two curious anecdotes about the 
article itself which may interest you. Did 
you ever hear, for example, of the use of 
leather money ? 

** In an extremely interesting papei, pub- 
lished bv the Rev. John Gunn, in 1849, 
entitled, * Proverbs, Adages, and Popular 
Superstitions, still preserved in the Parish 
of Irstead,' there are a number of interest- 
ing tales which were mostly taken down 
from the lips of a famous old washer- 
woman named Mrs. Lubbock. Among 
others is the following: * King John 
cleared the Crown of leather money. 
First he used it when there was not money 

57 



Something About Leather 

enough to carry on business with, and 
then he cried it down when he had got a 
supply of proper money. The people 
considered him rather silly, but he had 
sense enough to do that.' Mrs. Lubbock 
also said that she remembered when a 
child playing with King John's leather 
money. It was stamped like gingerbread 
and was cut out in the shape of gun- 
wadding. 

** In Camden's Remainesy under an article 
on Money, is the following: * There 
also hath been stamped money of leather 
as appeareth by Seneca, who mentioned 
that there was in ancient time Corium 
forma publica percussum ; and also that 
Frederick the Second, when he besieged 
Millan, stamped leather for current, and 
there is a tradition that in the confused 
state of the Baron's Warre, the like was 
used in England, yet I never saw any of 
them.' 

** In the Spanish army leather dollars 

58 



Something About Leather 

were used in the fifteenth century. These 
were usually silvered on each side to give 
them an appearance of value. It is sup- 
posed that the scarcity of silver made 
necessary the use of this curious money 
which the soldiers were forced to accept 
at a fictitious value." 

** I have heard of paintings on leather," 
I remarked, ** do you know anything about 
that?" 

'* O, yes, certainly," he answered, and 
he went on: ** Among many of the curi- 
osties recently found in certain remote sec- 
tions of the British Islands is a small painting 
upon leather. The subject is * St. Anne 
Teaching the Virgin to Read.' The two 
figures are under a canopy which has been 
deeply embossed and richly gilt and sil- 
vered. The painting is not very good, 
but it is evidently of great antiquity. 

** When the art of painting upon leather 
was first practiced history does not state, 
but it was undoubtedly common at a com- 

59 



Something About Leather 

paratively early period. The Sala de 
Justicia in the Alhambra is docorated with 
a number of elaborate paintings done upon 
heavy leather. In the drawing-room of a 
house called Crooke, near Chorley, in 
England, there was in the early part of 
the present century a curious set of painted 
leather hangings, which in appearance 
closely resembled tapestry. The subjects 
were from the history of Antony and 
Cleopatra, and the figures were almost as 
large as life. A well-meaning but ignor- 
ant caretaker unfortunately varnished the 
entire set, which caused the leather to curl 
up and split, and it was subsequently taken 
away." 

'*It is growing late and I must be 
going," I observed, as he concluded. 

** Delighted to have seen you," said the 
old German. ** Drop in any time. I am 
sorry I cannot offer you any refreshment; 
but these shoe factories have taken all the 
profit out of my business." 

60 



Something About Leather 

Acting upon this hint I invited him 
around the corner, and we left his shop to- 
gether. 



6i 



AS TO THE MAKING OF 
LEATHER THINGS 



AS TO THE MAKING OF 
LEATHER THINGS 

Of the hundreds of kinds of leather that 
have been made and tried during the last 
twenty-five or thirty years, comparatively 
few have been found which combine all 
the requirements necessary for their proper 
working into small leather articles. Some 
of the skins which have been tried have 
been found to wear badly and to become 
rough with use. Others lack the proper 
strength and crack where they are folded 
at the corners ; still others have so much 
oil in their original composition that no 
amount of skillful tanning and drying can 
get it out, but there is still a sufficient vari- 
ety of leathers, and all those which are 
now used by the best houses have stood 
the test of years. 

On the sixth floor of the Gorham Man- 
ufacturing Company's building, at the cor- 

65 



Something About Leather 

ner of Broadway and Nineteenth St., is 
their leather manufactory, and it is properly 
called a manufactory , because the work is 
all done by hand. One is surprised at the 
clever way in which pocketbooks and 
card-cases and bags are put together, and 
asks oneself involuntarily ** how else could 
it be done ? " The strange thing about it 
all is that machinery is so little used, and 
the stranger thing is the lack of division of 
labor. We have grown so accustomed to 
the trite phrase ** division of labor cheapens 
production," that we never imagine that a 
large concern like the Gorham Company 
allows any of its employees to do individ- 
ual work. The trend of the nineteenth 
century has, in fact, been toward division of 
labor. We have grown to believe that a 
man who makes one motion of his hand or 
foot, and repeats it perhaps many hun- 
dreds of times in a day, becomes so accus- 
tomed to it that mistake is impossible, and 
that his work is done better and more 
66 



Something About Leather 

rapidly than if he had to think of different 
processes. 

Even in the making of what we are 
pleased to term artistic furniture, many- 
men, sometimes many hundreds of men, have 
the handling of a piece before it is com- 
plete, each making one motion, carving one 
flower, varnishing or polishing, as is his 
trade. The Gorham Company have seen 
that progress does not always lie forward ; 
that, in a rapidly moving age, we have 
skipped over and left out some advantages 
for the gaining of others which seemed 
more valuable, and the one thing which 
has been gained, after all, is time. There- 
fore, it is a surprise to see many men 
working in a large, light room, each inter- 
ested in the finished product which he 
himself will turn out. All the responsibil- 
ity, from the cutting out to the final fitting 
of the silver or gold mountings, is upon the 
man who undertakes the production of a 
particular piece. He selects the skins, 

67 



Something About Leather 

places his pattern so that the leather 
will cut to the best advantage, and 
chooses the lining. He then takes the 
pieces to his own bench, where he uses 
his judgment as to the proper thinness 
to which they must be shaved. He 
works carefully and thoughtfully over the 
putting together of all the parts he has 
cut: the folding in of corners, the delicate 
tool-work around the edges, and the care- 
fill turning of a purse or pocketbook from 
the wrong side to the right. The only 
part of the work that is not done by hand 
is the stitching, and for this operation he 
hands the article to the woman in charge 
of the sewing machines, who matches the 
color with the proper silk, stitches them, 
and sends back the pieces ready for his 
finishing. This individuality of each 
workman gives him a pride in his work, 
and this is the reason that each piece 
made by the Gorham Company is as 
nearly perfect as possible. There is 

68 



Something About Leather 

nothing which could require more care or 
skill than the turning over and gluing of 
the edges of a delicate bit of leather. The 
least slip makes a stain which it would be 
impossible to remove. While the men are 
obliged to work slowly, and while the 
gross output is not nearly so large as it 
would be if the skins were cut by dies and 
machinery and handled by a number of 
men, the net value of the goods is much 
greater. 



69 



AS TO THE THINGS WHICH 
•ARE MADE 



'^'sc: 









\ 









Will ^^1. ,. 



AS TO THE THINGS 
WHICH ARE MADE 



It is quite marvelous to think how many- 
things can be made of a small piece of 
leather; how many things that one has 
never owned, never even seen, but which 
when known, seem absolutely essential. 
For instance, take the letter-book, made of 
elephant skin, rough and coarse and bark- 
like, but withal very beautiful in texture, 
trimmed with a corner of silvergilt orgold, 
sometimes absolutely plain, sometimes 

73 




Something About Leather 

with an Indian design which, strangely- 
enough, seems altogether appropriate to the 
skin itself. I say, strangely enough, 
because typical Indian designs are not in 
the least suggested by the markings of ele- 
phant skin. The same lines run through 
all East Indian decoration, and when put 
with the rough, deep brown skin they are 
in perfect harmony. But letter-books are 
not the only things that are made of ele- 
phant skin. There are card-cases for men, 
tiny little things with perhaps a plain gold 
corner, and lined with the thinnest brown 
calfskin, deep in color and in perfect 
harmony with the outside ; and there are 
card-cases for women, larger, of course, 
and sometimes with a bit of a watch, 
its little brown face and gold pointers 
peeping slyly out of the corner. Then, 
too, these same things are made of lizard 
skin, the small scaled, shining little chaps 
from Brazil; sometimes in the natural gray 
and white, beautifully mottled, sometimes 

74 



Something About Leather 

dyed to a deep purple, which just permits 
the mottling of the original skin to show 
forth under the color. These are usually 
mounted in simple silver, just as you would 
imagine the lizard himself would want to 
be mounted if he knew about it. The 
skin is thinner, very much thinner, than 
that of the elephant, even when that is cut 
down to the very outside, because, of 
course, elephant skin is so deeply marked 
that some parts of it must still be thick. 
Therefore pocketbooks and combination- 
books (a card-case and a pocketbook 
together) are made of lizard skin. Little 
stamp pads, with oil-paper leaves .to keep 
the stamps from sticking, are also made of 
the same material, because the bulk of the 
skin itself is almost nothing. All that is 
true of the Brazilian lizard is true of the 
Java lizard. The animal himself is gener- 
ally larger, sometimes being as much as 
three or four feet long, and the scales do 
not overlap, but are of a diamond shape 

75 



Something About Leather 

and very firm in texture. The skin is 
harder and wears well, and while it is 
used for all the things that the other 
leathers are, its greater strength makes it 
useful for chatelaine bags also. The color 
is a perfectly plain deep gray ; but it is 
dyed in beautiful greens and blacks as 
well. The mountings of the Java lizard 
pieces are generally silver, sometimes of 
the simplest and sometimes of complicated 
designs, but each mounting is chosen to 
harmonize exactly with the leather it is to 
adorn. To examine these things suggests 
looking at a well-dressed woman; one 
could never tell any of the details of her 
dress, but it is very certain that nothing 
is lacking. 

In the old days, before so much was 
known about the finishing of leather as is 
known to-day, pigskin was rough and harsh 
and made excellent saddles, but it was 
never used for anything else. It is 
still made into saddles, but leather workers 

76 




have learned how to treat it so that the 
exquisite grain comes out in all its softness 
in the new leather as it always did in 
saddles after they had been much used; 
and now belts also are made of pigskin, 
with a great, strong, bold buckle. They 
make belts of calfskin too, smooth and 
black or white and creamy; and then there 
are belts of morocco — another leather 
that used to be made into saddles before 
the Christian era, and which was stained 
then, as it is to-day, into the deepest reds 
and the most brilliant greens and blues 
that any leather has ever been stained. 

11 



Something About Leather 

Morocco has always been famous as a 
binding for books, and crushed morocco oi 
crushed levant, which is much the same 
thing, has been known for centuries. In 
binding a book in crushed levant, the 
leather is put on first and then every por- 
tion of the surface carefully rubbed with 
an iron weight until the grain has been 
crushed back and the surface is as smooth 
as glass; but now they have learned to 
crush levant before it is made up, and 
while the skin is still flat, crush it even 
more beautifully than it was ever crushed 
by hand. Nothing is smoother, nothing 
softer to the touch, than a card-case or a 
pocketbook made of this crushed leather, 
with its dull, deep, strong coloring ; and 
mounted with a dainty bit of engraved sil- 
ver, also perfectly flat and smooth, it is 
one of the most admired pieces which 
the work of the last few months has 
enabled the Gorham Company to show. 
In marked contrast to these dainty, shiny 

78 



Something About Leather 

bits are the pocketbooks and bags made of 
monkeyskin or of sealskin, both rather re- 
sembling morocco in grain, but more deep- 
ly marked. The sealskin is generally black 
or brown, and almost everything which 
can be made in any leather is beautiful in 
this one. There is something solid and 
substantial about it; something which gives 
it a wearing quality, not only physically, 
but artistically. It is altogether appro- 
priate, either as a covering for a jewel box 
or a cigar case. The monkeyskin is 
stained many different colors, but perhaps 
the most pleasing is the natural grayish 
brown of the tanning. To carry contrast 
in texture still further, one comes to the 
*'horn back" alligator, of which such 
beautiful and durable traveling bags are 
made. The ** horn back " skins, contrary 
to usual belief, are not taken from a differ- 
ent kind of animal — for indeed alligators 
and crocodiles are much the same the world 
over — but from a different part of the ani- 

79 



Something About Leather 

mal. Until recently the back, which is 
much the most beautiful part of the skin, 
was discarded as unworkable, but since 
leather workers have learned how to handle 
it, it has become very much sought after. 
Things made of it are more expensive than 
those made of belly leather, because of the 
difficulty in working, but they are quite 
worth the difference. One feels the qual- 
ity of it at a glance. Some of the traveling 
bags that are made of this skin and those 
made of sealskin, or plain alligator as well, 
are most magnificently fitted with toilet 
articles. And just here a word about the 
things that are used as fittings. Usually 
the bag is made first and the fittings picked 
from a stock of toilet articles, a brush and 
comb here, a flask or powder-box there, 
a shaving set from somewhere else. Every- 
thing that is generally put into a traveling 
bag adds greatly to its weight, and by 
the time it is complete it is altogether 
too heavy for comfort, and there is hardly 
80 




room for anything besides the fittings. 
This is the reason that fitted bags 
have never been very popular in this 
country, and even in England, where 
they have long been used, they are 
often too bulky and cumbersome for 
comfort. The Gorham Company 
goes about the fitting of its bags in quite 
a different way. Everything, from 
the scissors to the soap-box, is especially 
made with a view to lightness and com- 
8i 



Something About Leather 

pactness, and is designed, not only to fit 
into the bag, but to so combine with the 
other articles as to leave plenty of free 
space for such linen and other things as one 
wishes to carry. In other words, the 
thing is considered as a whole; no part is 
complete in itself, and yet every piece is 
altogether simple and beautiful. 

Of course many bags are made without 
fittings, from the tiny crushed levant or 
morocco shopping bag, hardly more than 
a chatelaine, to the huge traveling case, 
capable of carrying all that a man could 
want on a long trip, but the quality of the 
wormanship is always the same. The 
shopping bag itself is a thing of beauty, 
altogether dainty, yet so made of one 
piece of soft leather that it seems never to be 
quite full. It is long and slender, and its 
jaws open very wide so that the inside, 
which is lined with heavy silk, can 
be got at with no difficulty, even when 
the bag itself is quite full. 
82 




There is an almost endless number of 
little things made of leather, the little 
things which, after all, go to make up the 
perfection of one's way of living. Calen- 
dars with leather mountings, engagement 
books covered with some quaint piece of 
old Italian gilded and decorated calfskin, 
writing-books of simple crinkled English 
morocco, or of heavily marked alligator 
skin with great silver corners altogether 
in keeping, and desk pads on which the 

83 



Something About Leather 

leather does not show, but which have 
daintily engraved corners to hold the 
blotters. 

Nowadays men come in for a good 
deal of attention. It is no longer necessary 
that a physician go looking about for a bit 
of paper on which to write his prescrip- 
tion, when a book ot blanks with a seal- 
skin cover and a silver pencil is to be had. 
There is a golf-score properly ruled and 
printed, which is covered with thin leather 
like the doctor's book, and there are flasks 
innumerable, some curved to fit the pocket, 
some bolder, shaped like a canteen and 
covered with sealskin or pigskin or ele- 
phant hide, and with a strap to throw over 
one's shoulder ; and not the least con- 
venient of the things for men is the shaving 
mirror made in two sections joined at the 
back, with a round plain glass in one and 
a magnifying glass in another, and the 
clasp that holds them together cunningly 
contrived to hang the open mirror from a 
84 



Something About Leather 

hook. As a companion to the shaving 
mirror there is a bit of a jewel case for 
men, a little box that has slides to hold 
collar buttons and a compartment for pins 
and studs, and other trifles for which a man 
can never find a place in his traveling bag. 
In these days of out-of-door sports the 
bicyclist and the horseman have not been 
forgotten by the leather workers, for a 
clock case to fit on a saddle or on the 
handle bars of a bicycle, with a small purse 
attached, adds greatly to the comfort of a 
rider on the road. It is not fitting that 
such things as this should be made of a 
delicate leather, and so they are of calfskin, 
strongly sewed, and are altogether ap- 
propriate to their purpose. There are 
cigarette cases and cigar cases innumerable, 
and tobacco pouches for those who ap- 
preciate the glories of an old brier. 

The church has its share too, and some of 
the most delightful pieces which the Gor- 
ham Company have made have been silver- 

85 



Something About Leather 

mounted prayer books and hymnals; some- 
times with a metallic frame, beautifully 
enameled, sometimes ''all that there is of 
the most simple .in the world." They 
have engraved the certificate of marriage 
and left places for interesting facts and 
autographs connected with the ceremony, 
and gathered the pages together in a white 
or scarlet leather portfolio, quite simple 
and severe, with a solid, heavy corner; 
and another book has been engraved as a 
record of the autographs of visitors at 
one's house. 

One of the most famous of all leathers, 
and one which has been used since the 
early part of this century in the making of 
the finest of small leather articles, is Rus- 
sian leather, so called from the fact that 
for many years the Russians were the only 
tanners who understood its manufacture. 

Although it is now made in many coun- 
tries, and very largely in the United States, 
the Russians are still the only ones who 

86 









are able to make the leather permanently 
retain that fragrance for which it is so 
famous. This is done by soaking the 
skin in oil of birch, and it is said that in 
some Russian tanneries the skins are 
buried for long periods that their absorp- 
tion of the odor may be absolute. The 
Gorham Company, while using all the 
leathers which experience and experi- 
ment during the last twenty-five years 
have shown to be the best, by no means 
discard this old standard of quality, but 
they use only that which is made by the 
best Russian tanneries. Out o{ this 

87 




Something About Leather 

leather are made pocket-books and letter- 
books and dainty covers for memorandum 
pads, in fact almost all small articles ; and, 
as all things which stand the test of time 
periodically come into favor again, so 
Russian leather is being used more just at 
present than it has been for many years. 

In a way allied to the making of leather 
things is the making of small articles from 
other fabrics. Dainty purses mounted in 
silver-gilt or gold and with the tiniest 
gold chains are made of heavy corded 
silk. Card-cases in striking colors 
especiallv made ot material furnished to 
correspond with some costume are very 
beautiful. Each piece is made bv one of 
the leather-workers who so well under- 
stand the way such things should be put 
together and fastened, and who know 
the capabilities of each material. Among 
the most attractive of the things made of 
other fabrics than leather are the shop- 
ping-bags with an extension top knitted 



Something About Leather 

from heavy silk, beautifully beaded and 
very strong. These bags are made en- 
tirely in one piece and the beading is put 
on as they are knitted ; they have all been 
made by one woman, and there are not a 
great many of them, but each piece is 
different from the others, and so the 
variety of patterns is considerable. 

Just a word about the pictures. Some 
are put where they might be expected — 
near the text which they illustrate — and 
some are not. But such pictures appeal to 
me as decoratio?is so much more deeply 
than as mere illustrations that I could not 
bring myself to throw them all together at 
the end of the book. 

It must not be supposed that in a sketch 
like this, one can do justice to all the 
work which the Gorham Company are 
doing in leather. It has been the idea of 
the writer merely to mention some of the 
more important pieces, and to outline 
briefly the history and progress of the 

89 



Something About Leather 

manufacture of leather in general ; suffice it 
to say that anything which can be made 
in leather can be made by the Gorham 
Company, and that whatever the leather 
or whatever the mounting, the workman- 
ship will be of the best. There are no 
** second'].' 




90 



The printing of this little book 
was done at the Winthrop Press 
in New York, during September 
MDCCCXCVII, under the di- 
rection of H. Ingalls Kimball 



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